Supposedly, two age groupers were penalized for drafting female pros. After that incident the marshals were ordered off of the course for safety reasons by law enforcement. I can’t verify this but it sounds like a good story for a certain forum owner to investigate.

Did Starky push him?

Was also there to witness the amazing blatant disregard for the sport and each other. I burned far too many matches trying to stay ahead and/or legally pass the whole pack of 20-30 and was mentally so spent by the time I got off the bike that I was convinced I'd take up pottery.

I was passed multiple times on the right (by the same person at least twice). I have seen drafting at flat races, but this was not next level. Looked like a charity ride.

Also can back up what is said about the officials being taken off after the pros were done with their first lap due to safety concerns. Apparently this was made known in the pro athlete meeting.

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IG: NCGregory8778

That's messed up to be injured and have to hitch a ride to the hospital. So now does WTC= What The Clusterf*ck?

We should stop giving them our fucking money. They don't deserve it. Everybody in that race is spending half a grand on entry and there is nobody marshalling this drafting peloton. I heard something on another thread about undercover marshalls but that is bullshit to me, what we need to see is prevention by having a visible marshalling presence on the course issuing penalties. It has to be prevented, not punished, because doing something about it after the event does nothing to help the poor fucker who has trained 2 years and spent all his money on race entry and travel just to be cheated out of a fair race.

There was supposedly drafting of epic proportions... saw a few videos of groups of 20-100 bikes just pedaling along in a peloton, people sitting up and soft pedaling.

I read a crash report of a guy that went down due to two guys in one of those pelotons getting together after overtaking him... and taking him out. Supposedly the ED has a ton of people coming in from the bike crashes.

Drafting and TT bikes are bad ideas for a reason.

Re the drafting: https://m.facebook.com/...213&id=583310212

My experience: was so easy sitting at the back of one of those groups, even at legal distance. Stronger Bikers would all try go off the front and not get anywhere then would end up with big bunches at the front. Saw pro men go past in a 15-20man group legal distance. Looked awesome and what I thought my group would change to but stayed with bunch at front and a spaced tail... No Marshalls on 120k of the toll way!!

Incident wise: Woman my group was lapping seemed to get scared, wobbled, and fell right in front of me. Long straight, flat smooth concrete. I ran over her and her bike and then was knocked out for a while...

Once I was coherent I was able to convince cops and ambulance to let me keep biking as bike was amazingly rideable. (After getting them to tell me what direction I was going... Long straight Highway remember!!!) 40min there.

Then went to medical at transition to make sure I wouldn't bleed out on run. Took ages there as well after my run time had started so 10 min quicker run time than recorded. Plus ugly pacing.... So all and all feeling disappointed/ lucky/ unlucky/ proud all at the same time. Will have to chase Kona another time...

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https://www.strava.com/athletes/nbrowne1

Huge thanks to all the supportive messages, and especially to emergency services, transition and finish medical services, and my wife Kristina and friend Geoff for worrying about me and looking after me post race.

CT Scan came up clear except for broken nose that looks fine. So that, ugly face, road rash, and an Ironman medal make for an interesting story to tell 😎

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https://www.strava.com/athletes/nbrowne1

Ugh. What policy were they citing where the race officials wouldn't give you a ride? So curious how a conversation like that goes.

When I solo crashed at IMLOU in 2015, medical/race officials gave my bike a ride back to transition and gave me a ride in a golf cart to an ambulance. They even let me borrow their cell phone to let my family know what was going on. But I had a broken leg, so literally could not walk like you did. But the lady with you had a broken collarbone and they wouldn't give her a ride??

Aerobar or roadie drops?

Road drops are fine if you mean road bike drops. You're safer for the group if you're not using the hoods over bumpy terrain. Cornering or being in the drops over bumps is roadie 101. Hoods are fine in the group on smooth tarmac.

I hope it wasn't an aerobar. A hammer ride is road-race sim. If you're leading in an aero bar you're cheating it. You're either doing less watts at the same pace or same watts and hurting the group at a higher pace.

The last one I did, when I noticed the guy come off the front after only 10 seconds tuck into his clip-on bar once he got behind me.....I slowed pace and slid over so he couldn't echelon to form a gap and sprinted back on to drop him. It worked.

I'd do it again too.

Some photos for your entertainment... Before:




After:


Got it done:





Race positions for age group + event splits
Swim- 59:56 (+8:56) - 20th

T1- 3:17 (+8:52) -19th

Bike 6k - 10:00 (+8:30)-19th
Bike 26k - 42:35 (+8:35)-17th
Bike 60k - 1:31:41 (+8:34) - 13th
Bike 93k - 2:21:32 (+7:49 ) - 13th
Bike 127k - 3:15:26 (+8:59) - 14th
Bike 161k - 4:46:27 (+52:33) - 72nd
Bike 176k - 5:08:39 (+52:16) - 70th

T2 - 2:45 (+51:14) - 70th

Run 2.5k - 21:42 (+60:54) - 71st
Run 6k - 34:37 (+60:10) - 69th
Run 9.5k - 47:44 (+58:59) - 66th
Run 12.5k - 58:53 (+58:56) - 64th
Run 14.2k - 1:05:30 (+58:07) - 63rd
Run 16.7k - 1:17:44 (+56:57) - 54th
Run 20.2k - 1:32:05 (+56:54) - 52nd
Run 23.7k - 1:47:10 (+57:14 ) - 50th
Run 26.7k - 1:59:50 (+57:15) - 45th
Run 28.4k - 2:07:15 (+57:25) - 45th
Run 31.3k - 2:20:24 (+57:20) - 45th
Run 34.8k - 2:36:48 (+58:27) - 42nd
Run 38.1k - 2:53:57 (+60:00) - 42nd
Run 40.1k - 3:07:28 (+60:37) - 40th
Run 41.5k - 3:13:45 (+61:16) - 38th

Swim - 59:45 (PB!!)
Bike - 5:09 (40 min on side of highway...)
Run - 3:13 (10 min med tent)
Total - 9:28

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https://www.strava.com/athletes/nbrowne1

This probably means little from a distant and total stranger, but I fully respect you and what you are all about. Wow.

What....In....The....Actual....F*ck

respect, just complete and absolute respect

Holy crap. Wow, good job dude. I’m a bit surprised the let you keep going given how bad you looked

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Matt

You are a warrior.

you just won the ST.

much respect

Beast!!! Max respect.

you're a beast. i would have cried and quit.

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80/20 Endurance Ambassador

That's just amazing! Pics definitely worth the price

told y'all!

Holy crap! Glad you aren't hurt worse! I saw you blur past me at mile 24ish as we were going under the Waterway Ave underpass for the last time. I was wondering what exactly had happened to you to be all bandaged up, and then had to wonder how you were able to drop me so resoundingly that late in the race! Nice work!

Wow. I'll probably get harpooned for this...

I am very glad you are OK. Props for pushing through the pain to finish, but a little piece of me is asking...'was it worth it?'

Concussions are tricky and the medical part of me insists going on was risky. My world revolves daily around the question of risk vs benefit. And I had a friend who did IMLP 4 weeks out from a fractured collar bone. (The dude almost swam faster one armed than I did) But he wanted to do IM distance for the first time and he felt it was worth it (barely beat 17hrs, but he made it).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zALHOmQh328

Me, I'm not so sure, even though I'd probably have done it too.


It's just that you appear to have done the distance already (9:19:xx IMTX 2017), so what did you get out of it? Not the example to set for your kids, if you have any, even though you certainly get the 'HTFU' award.

Fatalities are rare in triathlon, but head injuries are dicey. You have loss of binocular vision and clearly some physical impairment. Again, I'm happy you made it, really.

And a 5:08 bike/3:13 M, busted up like that? Unreal! Congratulations Nicholas. You are going to have some really terrific PR's in the coming years. Be safe.

https://www.coloradoan.com/...an-boulder/88396104/

https://forum.slowtwitch.com/...lon%20death#p6427784

I had the goal of this race for 6 months and travelled from Canada with weeks off planned after. I was cognitively fine, my bike was ok, and I wasn't losing worrisome amounts of blood. Also wasn't assessed as risking long term damage from ambulance or medical professionals at transition. Hospital afterwards cleared me relatively quickly after CT scan and some wound cleaning.

Binocular vision was a pain on far end of the course on the uneven, bush surrounded paths. But otherwise fine on the wide open course.

It was worth it.

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https://www.strava.com/athletes/nbrowne1

Alright then.



Nice job, Ironman.
And keep up posted with the coming breakthrough race, because you clearly haven't hit your potential.